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Sunday, 11 September 2016

The pyrrhic pride in our lives.

We're living very morbid lives. We we're brought into this world by parents who succumbed to the tyranny of the times. Socialism and communism failed to reveal and prosper, and neo-imperialism and capitalism now demand cut-throat competition. And it has receded so deep in the alcoves of social fabric that we now live the reality, instead of knowing it is someone's bloody job to change it all. We're alive and we're equipped and for the first time in many centuries, we're all relishing the proclamations of deluding maxims of liberty and fraternity; the enticing charm of being able to thrive in a world while taking everyone forward with you, and of cherishing the universal brotherly spirit of equanimity. Well, it's an absolute farce. The world is sadder than ever, and all that's responsible for it, is the way we've been made to work our asses off just to achieve a purpose, and to embrace the fortitude in being able to choose it, not knowing how vitriolic that liberty is.

We're chasing cars and brands and our proclivity to share quotes written on top of pictures of these artifacts makes our desires a tad too vocal. On the other hand, we also share posts related to some atrocity committed on some poor chap in some faraway land. Additionally, we're largely religious, fully obsequious to tradition and also obliged to keep that thread intact. But we don't see the irony. The purpose we choose has been materialized to such an extent that even if you ever achieve it, all ends will never meet. The labyrinth of capitalism is such that your victory is always someone's loss which rescinds your affiliation to universal equality, and your quest for your victory changes all the elements of your character you borrowed from your religious tenets. In short, all victories are now pyrrhic. They come at too high a price!

In a connected world where we adore superstars and dote on cars, the clamor of the world is hidden beneath the glamour of what these same superstars and the companies they endorse wan us to buy! We're not chasing just corporate success or that corner office. We're doing it for money, for fame, for pride and for the ones we want to make proud. We set up with a very noble purpose in mind, like acquiring more skills, more education or attending to a more noble cause. But given what we and our forefathers have allowed to become, all objectives are materialized and manifested in snobbery. What was once a world full of people who wanted to be someone, is now a world full of people who want to be someone so that they can attain something. The being someone for the veracity of being that has been completely forgotten.

Our victories are inspired by possessions. That man from your downtrodden locality became a banker and made a lavish house so you follow the same path not because you want to become a banker, but because you want that house. And courtesy of the zeitgeist, if you told someone you genuinely want to be just a banker minus the house, you'd be deemed a cretin. Our victories are not real victories anymore. They're pride of being capable of moving up the ladder of consumerism coupled with the barbaric slashing down of someone else's right at that. That's the strata of the society now.

The only pithy truth, the only applicable proviso is that only a few people ought to be happy, and not everyone. Back in the past the caste differences or the bourgeoisie proletariat scuffles meant the same. Today, it is split in the availability of limited opportunity for the largest population. We become so engrossed in our success and so engulfed in relishing our victories and seeking pride that we miss out on having just blanched in front of the eternal decimation of equality, thereby reneging on our very obedience to the universal equality and harmony as dictated by religious sermons which we couple with our modern education and direction. Every victory is a testament to growing differences but in your own constricted world, that Benetton shirt you can finally afford silences and garrotes any shred of resistance that your conscience shows.

Your victories and your pride not only annihilate the rummaging and dwindling hope of someone else, they also shun out the real you. You feel lachrymose and putrid seeing everyone else succeed and get cars and watches and phones so you suddenly decide to take resolve to change the course of your life. You draw this realization that you've been serving horrible bosses ostensibly for no real reason or rhyme because you're not achieving anything. So you decide to leave everything behind and chase happiness by elevating your knowledge and skill and then subsequently your standing, but you don't see how you leave the real and genuine you behind. You're now just another replica of the person who inspired you, superimposed on the same catechism of material prosperity, without even noting that you didn't start for that purpose at the first place.

The happiness you sought seems to be found, but you found something else. The definition of happiness changed just as the objective changed from reaching somewhere to reaching out to something. You wished and dreamed as a person, being in that social aplomb, that microcosm of your own friends and family. But you're a changed person now, and so is everyone's attitude towards who you are now. Your victory comes as stamp of glory everyone rejoices, and so do you, but you haven't won because your victory and your pride were so pyrrhic that you lost what you once fought for - to get back happiness into the life of the real you. You lost the real you in turn. The victory, the pride, was all too pyrrhic, and as this pattern remains too hard to believe in, both I and you will still fall for it.